VOLUME 3 ISSUE 45
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NOVEMBER 11 - NOVEMBER 17, 2022
Judges clear way for redistricting case
Barnes wins county judicial seat Photos By Bruce Ackerman Ocala Gazette
By Jim Saunders Florida News Service
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s Florida Republicans added four U.S. House seats in Tuesday’s elections, a panel of federal judges refused to toss out a lawsuit that alleges a congressional redistricting plan is “intentionally racially discriminatory.” The plan, which Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature during an April special session, was used in the elections amid constitutional challenges in federal and state courts. In a 2-1 decision Tuesday, a panel of judges rejected a request by the DeSantis administration to dismiss the federal case, though it dismissed DeSantis as a named defendant. The lawsuit alleges the redistricting plan is unconstitutional because it improperly reduced the chances of Black candidates being elected in districts in North Florida and the Orlando area. In a motion to dismiss filed in June, attorneys for the state argued, in part, that the plaintiffs’ allegations “are insufficient to salvage claims of intentional discrimination. Legislatures are entitled the presumption of good faith. Redistricting is no exception.” But Judges Adalberto Jordan and M. Casey Rodgers, in Tuesday’s majority opinion, disagreed that the plaintiffs had “failed to adequately state claims for intentional discrimination” and said the case should move forward. “The defendants argue that the good faith of a legislature must be presumed, and they assert that the plaintiffs must ‘overcome’ that presumption and ‘show’ that the Florida Legislature ‘passed’ the congressional districting map because of its adverse effects on Black voters,” wrote Jordan, a judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and Rodgers, a federal district judge. “To the extent that the defendants are arguing about proof, their argument is premature. We are not at the evidentiary stage of the case, and our only task is to evaluate the complaint See Redistricting, page A3
Above: Leann Mackey Barnes hugs her great niece, Tayla White, 3, as she watches election results come in at J-Rocks Pizzeria in Ocala on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. Above Right: Leann Mackey Barnes, left, takes a selfie with her sister, Ebony Burton. Right: Leann Mackey Barnes gets a kiss from her husband, Troy Barnes.
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
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eAnn Mackey-Barnes defeated Rene Thompson in their nonpartisan runoff race Tuesday to claim the Marion County Court Seat 1. This was Mackey-Barnes third time running for a judicial seat after two unsuccessful attempts. According to unofficial totals posted to the Marion County Supervisor of Elections website Tuesday evening, Mackey-Barnes received 70,701 votes, or 54.91% of the total. Thompson received 58,057 votes, or 45.09% of the total. This seat became open when County
Court Judge James McCune announced he would be retiring when his term ends at the end of 2022. County court judges serve six-year terms in what is often referred to as “the people’s courts,” mainly because a large part of the courts’ work involves citizen disputes including traffic offenses, lessserious criminal matters (misdemeanors) and monetary disputes involving $30,000 or less. That threshold will rise to $50,000 on Jan. 1, 2023, potentially bringing more complex civil matters to the county court dockets. The job pays $172,015 plus benefits. Mackey-Barnes collected $45,620 in cash campaign contributions and
expended $42,545, according to the last filed financial reports. Thompson raised $50,500 and spent $48,941.85. Mackey-Barnes is a 2002 graduate of the University of Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law. She was admitted to the Florida Bar the same year. She is the chief attorney for Public Defender Michael A. Graves and supervises all of the office’s attorneys and staff. She has handled felony, misdemeanor and juvenile criminal cases, truancy and domestic relation injunction contempt cases, as well as Baker Act and Marchman Act civil cases. See More Election News, page A4
City Council says no to golf carts downtown A 3-2 vote put the brakes on a proposed ordinance recommended by city personnel, merchants and residents. By Julie Garisto julie@magnoliamediaco.com
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n Nov. 1, the Ocala City Council issued a proclamation for Mobility Week to be celebrated each year in October but failed to adopt Resolution 2023-7, revising the official
golf cart map to include the most trafficked portions of downtown Ocala. The effort to allow golf carts to drive to locally owned businesses had been underway for the past few months and involved two downtown community feedback sessions and research by city personnel. “The (city) staff recommends
approval of the expansion,” Tye Chighizola, Ocala’s growth expansion director, said while addressing the council, adding a recommendation that the ordinance wouldn’t go into effect until April 1, 2023. “That would give us time to do the signage and do outreach again like we did the last time in terms of where people should be
parking, where people should be going, making sure everybody’s registered,” he said. Residents who drive golf carts into city centers spend 40 percent more at local businesses, said Jessica Fieldhouse, executive director of Ocala Main Street, a downtown merchants and businesses organization. Ocala Mayor Kent Guinn
asked her to follow up later with him to provide more specifics about the national study she cited to the council members. “When this was brought up a few months ago, we started having conversations with our downtown businesses and we did conduct a survey,” See Downtown, page A3
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Veterans Benefit............................ A2 Morality Topics............................. A7 State News...................................... A9 Calendar......................................... B5 Sports.............................................. B8
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